AV’s Deep AL | Brindle gets signed
The feeling of playing in a band is difficult to capture in words.
Despite 10 years of playing in various groups, I still can’t quite describe it. Ideally, it’s a unique bond that brings individuals together. Multiple elements must be in place for an organic musical reaction to occur. Sharing a similar background, musical influences and a passion to move forward can be pivotal.
This week’s column features a conversation I had with an Antelope Valley band that brings this spirit to life. Deep AL | Brindle is an instrumental, electronic duo that blends many sensibilities together.
Influenced by the Deep House and Down Tempo sub-genres, their focus is combining vintage synthesizers with modern drum beats. Alastair Wilson (“Deep AL”) and Diego Castellanos (“Brindle”) are the masterminds behind the project.
Outside of the band, they both are sound engineers working to bring someone else’s musical expression to life. Now, they’re bringing their own vision to life. In September, they signed with Tooth and Nail Records and their new single, “Dep,” comes out today.
Jesse Davidson: How did you both meet? If you can describe it, what was it that allowed you both to “click” musically?
Diego Castellanos: We met in 2015. Alastair was booked for sound production at a local festival called GraceFest. At the same time, his wife was going into labor unexpectedly. Alastair needed someone to cover him last minute and that is where our paths crossed.
Alastair Wilson: Diego saved the day! Our personalities clicked and we had like-minded interests and goals. We had no intention of this becoming an official thing. At first, we would just get together to jam and hang. Months later, we started producing ideas that became songs. From there, we decided to form the duo.
JD: After watching some music videos, it’s clear the band has an ambitious vi
sion for creating a complete production. Has working behind the scenes influenced this?
AW: We both come from production backgrounds. Having the opportunity to cast a vision and execute it ourselves with the help of friends is really fun. Working behind the scenes has allowed us to gain experience in the production world, which helps us work well together and get things done.
JD: Tell us about how you got signed to Tooth and Nail records.
AW: Diego worked with an A and R rep from T and N for a few months. At some point, the discussion about their mutual interest in instrumental music came up. From there, he found out about our project and really liked it. He then thought it would be a cool idea to open up the opportunity of bringing in a new genre to T and N. The whole experience has been very pleasant. The team over at the label have been really cool, which helped us decide to give it a try.
JD: I really enjoyed your livestream entitled “Escapada.” In what ways has music provided an escape for the band
DC: Thanks! We appreciate you taking the time to watch that. Having jobs and responsibilities can sometimes hold you captive. Through music, being able to forget about those things through glimpses at a time is how I escape everyday life.
AW: I destress through music. Whether it’s listening or playing, I find myself in a state of calm.
JD: Writing electronic music is not my specialty. I’m curious, in a band setting, how your writing process happens.
AW: Our process usually begins with a loop or semiformed song Diego puts together, we’ll then write
ideas together on drums and start building off of there. Sometimes we plan group writing sessions with a close circle of friends to further our ideas.
Instruments usually involve some classic vintage synth. Roland Junos, Jx8p, Korg M1, cheap Yamaha’s or Casio keyboards, Prophet 600, DX7 and a Moog delay. We track drums at my studio and Diego writes and records at his home studio in Lancaster, CA. Diego usually mixes all our stuff.
When it came time to write new songs, we both liked the idea of escaping our everyday lives and traveling to an off-site location to further ideas and record them.
Seeing some of our favorite bands do this in the past was inspiring and we wanted to give it a try.
Fortunately, a close friend of ours helped us get set up with his family’s cabin in Wrightwood.
The cabin is owned by one of the daughters of the famous Roy Rogers, which we thought was really special. While staying there, we felt like the spirit of music and entertainment was embodied there, somehow. It made the experience that much more memorable.
JD: What are your goals for the future?
AW: To keep making music we are proud of and that the essence of how we make it hopefully is never lost.